pizzagna

So,
I had a vision a couple of months ago. It took my by surprise, and
many of my family and friends told me it couldn't be done. But I don't
believe in impossibility.

"What was my vision?" you ask. A
pizza with the depth and character of a lasagna. A lasagna that you
could pick up with your hand and eat like a pizza. A match made in
heaven? Perhaps.

After letting the idea percolate for a couple of months I finally hashed out a solid design.

Summary

8 >9" lasagna noodles (2.5-3" width)

Pizza dough (made with flour yeast and salt)

Sausages (Chicken herb)

Meat tomato sauce

Low fat ricotta

Skim Mozzerella

Spinach

Mushrooms

Garlic

Toppings to taste

Put it all together in a kind of deep dish pizza + lasagna arrangement
(being careful to lay noodles orthogonal to one another, cook at 375F
for 40 minute let sit for 10 minutes and enjoy.

So, last night I decided to dig into the implementation of the beast.
I didn't get everything right; I forgot to let it sit before enjoying,
I didn't use nearly enough tomato sauce, and I probably used too much
garlic. But obviously someone familiar with both pizza and lasagna can
tweak to their tastes.

Detailed instructions (a short tale of kitchen misadventures):

So, to begin, you need to make your pizza dough. I followed a generic
pizza dough recipe for a pair of thick crusted 14 inch pizzas and cut
it in half. You'll note that minus the crust you need a 3/8" thickness
circle of dough approximately 15.5" in diameter. Beyond that you're
making crust.

After making the dough (seriously grab a cookbook if you want details,
I used whole wheat flower), you have to get the crust prebaked.
Massively lubricate your pan. Set rolled dough in the pie tin in the
appropriate shape, put some (also lubricated) aluminum foil over it. I
used spray olive oil for my lubrication. I'd imagine butter or
something like that could be substituted. Then, to hold the corners of
the pie down my wife recommended adding red beans on top of the foil
which I did. Oven at 350F.

Get your water boiling in appropriate noodle fashion. When it's
boiling and your oven is preheated, set the timer to 13-15 minutes and
put your noodles in the water. And put your pizza crust in the oven to
prebake.

Now, make your lasagna mix. I just used a food processor and tossed in
appropriate ricotta/garlic/sausage/spinach. I'm sure any other lasagna
recipe would work here.

When your noodles are ready, drain them and pull the crust from the
oven as close to simultaneously as you can. Now you need to stamp your
noodles.

Stamping
is a relatively simple process. You get an identical pan to the one
you're using. Put it on top of your noodles and use it as a cookie
cutter. You'll note that after this process is completed your noodles
will fit into your pan (without crust).

When
your stamping is complete you just need to get on with the making
lasagna portion of the project. Lay your layers following a standard
recipe. Limit yourself to two layers of noodles though to prevent
carbs from overwhelming your dish. Remember to lay them in opposite
directions.

When you complete your layering your final goal is to make the top as
pizza-like as possible. Put down a final layer of tomato sauce, then a
layer of mozzerella thick enough to completely hide the noodleyness of
the dish.

Pop it in the oven (now at 375F), wait 40 minutes. Take it out.

Wait 10 minutes, and enjoy.

Note, consistency at 10 minutes will be borderline hand hold-able, and at 20 it should be more solid.

Of course leftovers are truly something spectacular and provide a remarkable view of the composition of the creation.

Conclusion

I feel like a broke the sound barrier.

Post-facto notice/trash talking:

Rachael
Ray apparently has something she calls a Pizzagna. It has neither the
shape or structure of a pizza nor the noodles or layers of lasagna. It
is simply a scrambled mash of noodles with some lasagna ingredients and
some pizza ingredients. This should not be confused with that.